388 ANNUAL REPORT. 



teen inches between each row. If the soil is light and sandy, 

 mulch late in the fall; if heavy, mulch in the winter on top of 

 the snow, about one and one-half inches deep, with straw or 

 marsh hay. Let it remain till late in the spring, and then rake the 

 most of it between the rows, and let it remain there. The sec- 

 ond year it does not pay to cultivate. Pull out the weeds, and 

 after the berry season is over, plow up the bed, and set a new 

 bed every other year. All strawberries require good soil. For 

 the Wilson it should be very rich, and in all cases water will do 

 wonders in production. Strawberries are very easily grown, but 

 require good judgment in selecting the location and preparing 

 the soil. They can be made very profitable. Three hundred 

 bushels per acre we would not consider an unusually large crop. 

 The record of the Crescent is four hundred and sixty bushels 

 per acre. The profit in growing strawberries is not to spread 

 over too much ground. Get from one acre what is usually got 

 from five, and better fruit, and much less expense of picking. 



GENERAL DISCUSSION. 



At the conclusion of Mr. Pearce's paper, a general discussion 

 of the subject of strawberries was entered into. 



Mr Lyons said: I have raised the Countess and Downer's 

 Prolific. They look very much alike, but are two different 

 strawberries. Some peoi^le say they are the same. The Count- 

 ess blighted with me two years in the last fifteen. I had Downer's 

 Prolific in the same field, and there was no blight with them at 

 all. 



Mr. Lsaac Gilpatrick. I have always planted in hills. I 

 would not plant any other way. Last year I had one-tenth of an 

 acre, very badly taken care of, and got forty to sixty quarts a 

 day. I got everything too close together, and the consequence 

 was that I didn't get a good crop. I claim that I could take the 

 same ground and get eighty quarts a day. T picked twenty-six 

 days. My ground was well prepared sandy loam, gravel subsoil, 

 well mulched with straw manure, and every runner taken off. I 

 raised berries for my own use, and therefore didn't take care of 

 them as I otherwise would, but I can take the same ground now 

 and get good returns from it. I never raised anything but the 

 Wilson until last year. I set them all too close, and lost nearly 

 one-half by it. 



Mr. Pearce. What can be grown per acre by your system? 



